PH help sought for Pinoys held in Trump immigration sweep
A network of organizations supporting Filipino migrants in the United States has called on the government to leverage diplomatic channels for the release of Philippine nationals who have been detained as a result of President Donald Trump’s renewed crackdown on illegal immigrants, including a green card holder who has lived there for five decades.
“The change we want to see is simple. The Philippine government must exert diplomatic pressure to push for the release of Filipinos in detention. The Philippine government must do its job to provide aid and assistance to Filipinos in distress,” Megan Fronda of Migrante USA said in a virtual press briefing on Monday.
Migrante USA, an advocacy group for Filipino migrants, immigrants and workers in the United States, is one of the convening organizations of the Defend Migrant Workers campaign and network.
Amid the Trump administration’s drive to deport illegal migrants, the case of a green card holder detained upon returning to the United States from a vacation in the Philippines last month has drawn attention.
Lewelyn Dixon, a 64-year-old laboratory technician at the University of Washington Medical Center-Montlake, has lived with her family initially in Hawaii and later in the Greater Seattle Area for 50 years.
In February last year, Dixon returned to Seattle from Manila with her niece, Donna Cristobal.
Cristobal recalled her “Auntie Lyn” sleeping through most of their connecting flight from Korea, during which attendants served a ham sandwich, which Dixon saved in her bag—not knowing it would trigger an issue at US Customs upon arrival.
24-year-old conviction
“This took her an additional one to two hours of security investigation. Despite this, she was eventually cleared to enter the US. When she came out, I remember she said laughingly, ‘That damn sandwich has flagged me to be questioned every time I go through Customs,’” Cristobal narrated in a virtual press conference on Monday.
Last Feb. 28, Dixon and Cristobal traveled again from the Philippines to the United States.
Cristobal cleared Customs smoothly and waved at her aunt, knowing she would likely face extra screening due to the previous incident.
After waiting four hours at the airport, Cristobal was told to go home, assured that her aunt would only be held for a “little while longer” for questioning.
“I reluctantly left the airport, still confused about what was going on,” she recalled.
Cristobal later received a call from a Customs agent informing her that Dixon had been transferred to the Northwest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Processing Facility in Tacoma.
It was only through lawyer Benjamin Osorio that the family learned that Dixon’s detention was due to a nonviolent embezzlement conviction nearly 24 years ago.
“Her trial date is scheduled for July, and that’s four months out. I don’t think that she should be there for the next four months. She’s not a flight risk, and she’s not a threat to society. She should be given the opportunity to return to her life,” Cristobal pointed out.
Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco conducted a welfare check call with Dixon last week after securing permission from ICE.
“Ms Dixon expressed appreciation for the call and confirmed that she is in good condition. She also shared some details about her case which we are not at liberty to disclose,” Romualdez told the Inquirer.
He said the consulate assured him that it “stands ready to extend appropriate assistance” to Dixon while closely monitoring her case.
More victims
Besides Dixon’s predicament, migrant groups are calling on the government to assist other detained Filipinos, including Alma Bowman, Ligaya Jensen, Dhenmark Francisco and Jovi Esperanza.
Bowman, a human rights and immigrant rights advocate, whistleblower and member of Malaya Movement Georgia, was previously detained by ICE from 2017 to 2020.
She was released under an order of supervision during the COVID-19 pandemic due to medical conditions.
Star witness
While in detention, she witnessed and experienced medical abuse, including forced, nonconsensual gynecological procedures on migrant women at the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia.
“Alma bravely became a whistleblower to expose these injustices against migrant women and was one of the star witnesses in the congressional investigation into the facility,” said Julie Hamara of the Malaya Movement USA.
Hamara said Bowman was detained again by ICE on March 26 during her annual routine check-in in Atlanta, Georgia.
She is currently being held at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, about two hours from Atlanta.
